Conversion of mi type firearms to m14 ammunition



J. BYER Jan. 9, 1968 v CONVERSION OF Ml TYPE FIREARMS TO M14 AMMUNITIONFiled March '7, 1966 INVENTOR JACOB BYER ATTORNEY United States Patent3,362,095 CONVERSION OF M1 TYPE FIREARMS T0 M14 AMMUNITION Jacob Byer,Worcester, Mass., assignor to Harrington &

Richardson, Iuc., Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts FiledMar. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 535,289 4 Claims. (Cl. 42-1) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A conversion kit particularly adapted for changing a Garand30-06 rifle to the M14 NATO, the kit comprising a trigger assembly,receiver, bolt, and a floor plate, the latter having an openingproviding a pair of spaced arms for the reception of a magazine adaptedfor the NATO but not adapted for the Garand, together with a spacerblock on the forward face of the trigger assembly with a retractiblemagazine catch on the spacer block holding the magazine in position forfeeding cartridges to the receiver, and a movable bolt stop on thespacer block engageable by the cartridge follower of the magazine whenit is empty, to move the bolt stop into the path of the bolt to stop thesame in open position upon exhaustion of the rounds in the magazine.

This invention relates to a conversion apparatus or kit for convertingthe M1 to the M14, i.e., the well known Garand 30-06 rifle to the M14NATO which uses a 7.62 cartridge shorter than the standard 30-06.

It is of course recognized that it is important to be able to convertthe M1 to the M14- so as to standardize infantry weapons insofar as itis possible to do so. Other conversions have been known such as forinstance the F.N., the Beretta and others, all of which have someobjectionable features, including high cost in the Beretta.

However one of the main problems resides in the provision of aconversion apparatus and/or kit which is simple and easy and inexpensiveto accomplish and that is the principal object of the present invention.

The conversion kit of the present invention involves a minimum of changeparts and .a minimum of operations to be done on the original receiverand the fore-end of the stock of the conventional Garand or Ml.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing parts of a conventional M1 rifle;

FIG. 2 is a similar view showing the same converted to the M14 by meansof the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of a portion of the stock;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the trigger housing assembly;

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation of the trigger assembly as modified;

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view looking in the direction of arrow 6 in FIG.2, with parts broken away;

FIG. 7 is a view in elevation looking in the direction of arrow 7 inFIG. 5, and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view in side elevation of the forward magazinelatch.

Essentially the problem in converting the M1 to the M14 comprises theapplication of the underneath upwardly feeding M14 type magazine havingten to twenty rounds and which has the usual magazine follower andspring. The M1 has a solid floor plate which has to be removed ormodified to accept the magazine. The M1 3,362,095 Patented Jan. 9, 1968must be provided with magazine catches which hold the magazine inposition and at least one of which is easily retracted in order to allowthe magazine to be extracted and replaced. In this invention the floorplate is milled out to correct width.

Also since the NATO cartridge is shorter than the standard SpringfieldSO -116*, a spacer is added to the face of the front of the triggerhousing and advantage is taken of the fact that this spacer has to beprovided to place on it the rear retractable magazine catch and also aspring-pressed bolt stop, which bolt stop is actuated by the magazinefollower, and when the final round has been ejected, the bolt is held inbolt-open position thereby until such time as a new magazine is insertedin the newly provided magazine holder, etc.

Also the underneath portion of the fore-end adjacent the milled-outfloor plate of the trigger housing is cut out in order to accept theparts particularly with respect to a forward magazine catch.

FIG. 3 shows an underneath view of a portion of the fore-end of thestock 10 and the fore-end 12, the newly cut-out portion being indicatedat 14, and extending from the dotted line to the right, which shows aformerly solid portion.

FIG. 4 is an underneath view of the trigger housing or trigger assemblywhich is generally indicated by the reference numeral 16 and which ischanged only in that it is milled out along the lines indicated at 18,18 for the reception of the NATO type magazine between the two resultantarms 20, 20 in the floor plate which are of course integral therewithand relatively speaking embrace the magazine as it is inserted in anupward direction.

FIG. 5 shows the trigger assembly together with the new spacer 22 whichis attached to the forward face thereof. The trigger assembly isstandard and conventional and well known in the art. Nothing is done tothis trigger assembly with the exception of the milling operation in thefloor plate as indicated at 18 to form the arms 20, 20. The spacer block22 is attached by any desired means such as by being bolted as at 26,26, to the forward face of the trigger assembly as at 28.

The spacer block is arranged so as to provide for a rearward guidesurface for the magazine spaced forwardly from the front face 28 of thetrigger assembly. On the spacer block there is provided the pivoted,spring-pressed rear magazine latch 30 which is provided with the latchnose at 32 for the purpose of engaging the projection 34 on the NATOtype magazine 36.

This magazine is conventional and well known and besides having theprojection at 34 at the rear portion thereof for engagement with thepivoted rear latch 30, it is also provided with a front aperture 35 forengagement with a new retractable forward latch to be hereinafterdescribed. This magazine also has a convention-al cartridge follower 38moved by the usual cartridge follower spring as is well known and as therounds are exhausted this follower rises. After the last round isextracted, it contacts the vertically movable bolt stop 40 which isspring-pressed in a downward direction by means of a spring not shown,mounted in the spacer 22. Upon being raised, bolt stop 40 moves into thepath of the bolt 56 and holds it in open condition when all of thecartridges have been exhausted from the magazine, see FIG. 7.

The magazine is extracted by releasing the finger 30 moving it in acounterclockwise direction in FIG. 2, and the magazine is extracted by atwisting motion releasing the front latch also. However, the boltremains open until a fresh magazine is inserted, whereupon the stop andbolt become disassociated and the spring 52 causes the bolt stop to snapdownwardly into its normal position.

The original Ml receiver has to be milled out slightly but a veryminimum of such milling is required. The receiver is perhaps best shownin FIG. 6 which is a view looking upwardly into the receiver andindicating therein the forward magazine latch 60 which is provided witha lock rod 62 and a slanted forward edge portion 64 which has arearwardly projecting nipple 66 intermediate the side edges thereof forengaging in the hole in the forward wall of the magazine. The lock rodtends to hold the latch 60 in the correct position but is spring-pressedforwardly by the spring 68 and this magazine front latch has sufiicientmotion arranged thereby in order to allow the magazine to be releasedfrom the projection 66 but only after the rearward magazine catch hasbeen released by pressing the lever 30 in a counterclockwise directionas explained above. The rod 62 takes the place of the M1 cartridgefollower actuating rod.

It will be seen that the present invention provides an extremely simple,inexpensive, and quickly and easily installed conversion kit forconverting the Garand or M1 to the M14 so that the M1 can be used withstandard NATO ammunition. The bolt operates the same as before in bothdirections. However instead of using the usual Garand clip which isinserted in the top of the reeciver, the firearm now ismagazine-operated and more rounds can be utilized in a single magazinethan in the M1 clip. Certain changes also have to be made to the barrelbut this forms no part of the present invention. Such barrel and headspace changes have to be made in any kind of conversion; whereas theprincipal departure of the present invention from the prior art residesin simplicity, inexpensiveness, and ease of conversion.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A conversion kit for a firearm which includes a trigger assembly, areceiver, a reciprocable bolt for operation in said receiver, meansoperating the bolt, said trigger assembly including a generally uprightforward face and a forwardly extending floor plate,

said fioor plate being provided with an opening centrally thereofproviding a pair of spaced arms for the reception of a magazineincluding a cartridge follower, which magazine the firearm was notoriginally made to accept,

and a spacer block for mounting on the forward face of said triggerassembly, a retractable magazine catch on said spacer block for holdinga magazine temporarily in position for the feeding of cartridges thereinto the receiver for loading by said bolt in a conventional manner, amovable bolt stop on said spacer block, and means on said bolt stop inposition to be engaged by the cartridge follower when the magazine isempty to move said bolt stop into the path of said bolt to stop the samein open position upon the exhaustion of the rounds from the magazine.

2. The conversion kit of claim 1 including a yieldable new forwardmagazine latch comprising a block, a projection of said block for entryinto an aperture in the forward edge of said magazine, and means fornormally maintaining the latch block with said projection in magazineengaging position at the aperture; thereby to hold an inserted magazinein position.

3. The conversion kit of claim 1 including a yieldable new forwardmagazine latch comprising a block, a projection on said block for entryinto an aperture in the forward edge of said magazine, and means fornormally maintaining the latch block with said projection in magazineengaging position at the aperture; thereby to hold an inserted magazinein position, resilient means for said block, the latter beingretractable against the action of said resilient means to allow saidmagazine to be extracted and replaced.

4. The conversion kit of claim 1 including a yieldable new forwardmagazine latch comprising a block, a projection on said block for entryinto an aperture in the forward edge of said magazine, and means fornormally maintaining the latch block with said projection in magazineengaging position at the aperture; thereby to hold an inserted magazinein position, resilient means for said block, the latter beingretractable against the action of said resilient means to allow saidmagazine to be extracted and replaced, said latch block maintainingmeans including a lock rod that takes the place of the cartridgefollower actuating rod of the firearm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 728,739 5/1903 Mannlicker 42-7531,074,948 10/ 1913 Hiscock 4218.3 1,850,729 3/1932 Sedgley 4218.31,913,827 6/1933 Bradbury 42-18.3 2,657,489 11/ 1953 Robertson 42-62,736,977 3/ 1956 Harvey 42-6 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

T. H. WEBB, Assistant Examiner.

